This research investigates the activities of informal cross-border traders and migrants in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area, with a specific focus on the SADC region. It seeks to understand the contribution of these actors to the broader integration of the said regions. Special attention is given to persons living in the proximate communities, towns, etc. of the contiguous border areas of the countries that form the tripartite FTA.
Contacts
The primary objective of this research project is to i) take stock of what the futures of governance could look like, ii) explore to what extent the use of anticipation and the development of futures literacy in governance can be by itself a governance innovation, and iii) explore and discuss implications for present and future governance of the future. It is also an applied research project whose second objective is to connect this knowledge generation process with empirical work, in dialogic way, with a particular, but not exclusive, focus on Africa. For this purpose, it is designed to be a process of collective investigation involving i) people with a taste for future-oriented postures and interested in the issue of governance and ii) people facing governance issues who are interested in using the future.
A fuller description of the project can be seen in this draft concept note for building and engaging an extended peer community into this collaborative research project. It seeks to involve people who have future-oriented competences and an interest in governance innovation, or people who are working in the field of governance and have an interest in future-oriented approaches. It is a conceptual and action research with a special focus on Africa, on territorial development and on the SDGs.
If you want to know more or/and you are interested in joining and contributing, please contact robin.bourgeois@cirad.fr
Access the draft concept note here (English version)
Les futurs de la gouvernance et la gouvernance du futur
L’objectif principal de ce projet de recherche est de: i) faire un état des lieux sur les futurs de la gouvernance; ii) explorer dans quelle mesure l’utilisation de l’anticipation et une culture du futur peuvent être des innovations en gouvernance, iii) explorer et discuter les implications pour la gouvernance actuelle et à venir du futur. C’est aussi un projet de recherche appliquée dont le deuxième objectif est de relier ce processus de génération de connaissances à un travail empirique, de manière dialogique, avec un accent particulier, mais non exclusif, sur l’Afrique. A cette fin, il est conçu comme un processus d’investigation collective impliquant i) les personnes ayant un goût pour l’anticipation et intéressées par la question de la gouvernance et ii) les personnes confrontées aux problèmes de gouvernance et intéressées par l’anticipation.
Une description plus complète du projet est accessible dans cette note conceptuelle provisoire visant à construire et à engager une communauté de pairs étendue dans ce projet de recherche collaboratif. Un accent particulier y sera mis sur l’Afrique, sur le développement territorial et sur les ODD.
Si vous souhaitez en savoir plus et / ou si vous souhaitez vous inscrire et contribuer, contactez robin.bourgeois@cirad.fr.
WE-Africa is an alliance of likeminded scholars and practitioners who share a common concern about the current socio-economic conditions in which we live and are willing to work together to promote a transition to a wellbeing-based economy for Africa. It is an action-research network, which aims to consolidate evidence for change while focusing on building a new economy and promoting alternative development policies.This research project seeks to stimulate the broadening of the scientific-academic debate over the current and potential configuration of the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS), both within the context of Brazilian interests and in the framework of increasing international focus over South Atlantic dynamics. With over 30 years of existence, ZOPACAS accounts today for a singular case of a multilateral platform, transversal to multiple global developments in the last few decades. Its institutional resilience associated to a characteristically legal singularity in terms of other multilateral experiences as well as an express desire to widen its thematic range of action, make this forum a noticeable case study. That relevance, in turn, only increases if we also consider the underlined notion of a supposedly common perception of an oceanic region, as an aggregating element of South American and African countries, as well as its passive contribution – never really challenged or tested – to regional security and stability.
On the other hand, the pre-salt discoveries, the resurgence of the Brazilian defense industry, the bet on South-South relations and the political-commercial investments in Africa also incited Brazil to concern itself once again with developments in the South Atlantic. It is therefore understandable why the progressive reinforcement of ZOPACAS is considered relevant to Brazil’s own defense, as mentioned by the Defense White Book, and inter-relates easily with the national foreign policy domain.
In this context, while combining an historical balance (1986-2016) with a structural evaluation of the current limits, capacities and eventual potentialities of ZOPACAS, this project thus seeks to provide a complete and deepened perspective of a regional mechanism, frequently neglected by academic literature and never fully researched in its totality. Moreover, it seeks to answer the increasing demand, both internal and external, for detailed information over ZOPACAS and provide greater substance to the national decision-making process regarding Brazil’s active participation in such a multilateral body.
GovInn researcher: Frank Mattheis
Partner institutions: University of Brasilia (Brazil), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), University of Lisbon (Portugal), University of Rosario (Argentina)
Funding institutions: Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Brazilian Defence Ministry’s Pandiá Calógeras Institute
Funding period: January 2015 to December 2016
The 15 member-state Southern African Development Community (SADC) started out in April 1980 as the Southern African Development Co-ordinating Conference (SADCC) and changed into SADC in August 1992. SADC aims at integrated regional development through formal regional institutions and seeks an economic union through the successive stages of regional integration as espoused by economic theory. This has consequences for the movement of factors of production in the region including labour, capital, goods and services. This research investigates the activities of informal cross-border traders and migrants in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite in general and the SADC region in particular, with a view to understanding the contribution of such actors to the integration of the said regions. Informal (ethnic) entrepreneurs, local non-state actors, relevant officials from local, provincial and national government in the target areas and relevant officials from, among others, SADC, COMESA, EAC inform the research through interviews. The research gives special attention to persons living in towns, areas, etc. that are proximate to the borders of the countries that form part of the sample for the study. The research also relies on various theories and approaches, such as sociological exchange theory and international political economy approach, and presents historical, socioeconomic, and political accounts observable in the study target areas and populations.
GovInn deputy director Chris Nhsimbi conducting research on cross-border trade
A platform for supporting evidence-based and participatory decision making on land in South Africa
South Africa agrarian sector is affected by a context of far-reaching and fundamental change, related to the country’s land and agrarian transformations, in a context of overall deregulation of its economy. Moreover, the country is characterised by the lack of publicly available precise data and analyses and the weak involvement by stakeholders in decision-making regarding land and agrarian transformation. On top of that, the increased interconnectivity of the land and agrarian questions in South Africa, Africa and the world, leads to the necessity of apprehending them within today’s global context of agrarian, environmental, and food security questions. These observations call for the establishment and development of a well-coordinated information, data, analysis and evidence-based decision-making support entity, grouping the major academic and analytical players on one hand, and a broader stakeholder panel on the other hand, aiming at producing and making available data, information and analyses, and supporting evidence-based and inclusive decision-making processes with regards land and land-based activities in South Africa.
The SA Observatory’s goal is to promote evidence-based and inclusive decision-making over land resources in South Africa and beyond by generating, analysing and making available land-based information and by widening participation to all stakeholders.
Partners: University of Pretoria – Post-Graduate School of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Agricultural Economics; GovInn; in collaboration with the International Land Coalition; in the broader framework of the Land Matrix.
Funding: Flemish Cooperation FICA
Global Agro-Food-Energy System Changes, Land Use Patterns, Production Models, Natural Resource Management, Food Security through Production and Employment, National/Global Governance (AFGROLAND)
Changes to the global agro-food-energy system (e.g. changing consumption patterns in the North, Europe’s Climate and biofuel policies, etc.) over the past few years have led to a renewed interest in agriculture and a rush to acquire land. The impact of this rush is not always evident as its assessments focus on the short-term and generally remain at a case study level, without considering the broader agrarian and socio-economic transformations it entails. Against this backdrop, the objective of the project is to analyse how global agro-food-energy system changes impact on the countries in the global South, namely in Africa, particularly with regard to sustainable land management, agricultural production and food security, socio-economic outcomes (such as employment and livelihoods), pressure on land and natural resources and, subsequently, the governance of the latter.
Based on extensive empirical research and spatial analysis, and by resituating this research within a multi-dimensional and multi-scale approach, the project will endeavor to
Partners: The project gathers experts from different disciplines (economists, political scientists, geographers, political analysts, agronomists, environmentalists) from the University of Pretoria (GovInn, School for Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Agricultural Economics), the Center for Development and Environment (University of Bern) and CIRAD – the French center for Agricultural Research for Development (UMR ART-dev, Tetis and Moisa).
Funding: Belmont Forum
For more information, read this DEF Flyer AfgroLand.
Front row (Left to right): Bettina Wolfgramm (CDE, University of Bern), Eve Fouilleux (CIRAD), Camilla
Adelle (UP/GovInn), Sandra Eckert (CDE, University of Bern), Sara Mercandalli (CIRAD).
Back row (left to right): Sheryl Hendriks (UP/IFNuW), John Annandale Markus Giger (CDE, University
of Bern), Ward Anseeuw (CIRAD/GovInn), Magalie Bourblanc (CIRAD), Perrine Burnod (CIRAD),
Michael van der Laan (UP/Plant Sciences).
Missing form photo: Lorenzo Fioramonti (UP/GovInn) and Johann Kirsten (UP/Agricultural
Economics, Extension and Rural Development) and local African partners.
The Global Wellbeing Lab 2.0 is a joint learning and action platform hosted by the Boston-based Presencing Institute, Germany’s GIZ Global Leadership Academy, and the Gross National Happiness Centre, Bhutan. The three institutions previously convened the first Global Wellbeing and GNH Lab (Lab 1.0), which began in January 2013 and continued until early 2015.
GovInn is taking part in the Global Wellbeing Lab 2.0.
Lab 2.0 convenes regional clusters of innovators from business, government, and civil society whose work aims to shift institutions beyond the pursuit of narrowly measured parameters of success (such as profit or growth) to broader aims that translate into sustainable wellbeing for our societies and the environment.
The Lab is primarily geared toward experiential learning and action, through which participants can expect to explore questions such as:
• What new opportunities are emerging as a result of the growing critique of our current GDP based economic paradigm?
• How are governments, businesses, and social entrepreneurs defining new ways of measuring progress and prosperity?
• How can these be used as leverage points for shifting public policy in ways that chart a more sustainable and equitable trajectory for our future?
• And how can developing countries chart a path to meaningful, balanced economic growth that places sustainability, equity and wellbeing at the heart of their development strategies?
When: The Lab 2.0 launches with a 2-day workshop in Berlin from 3 – 4 February 2015
History of the Global Wellbeing Lab
The first Global Wellbeing Lab 1.0 (2013-2014) invited the participation of 24 lead innovators from eight countries around the globe, working in fields spanning progress indicators, new economic models, and systems transformation. This Lab generated cross-sector prototype projects that are currently unfolding in Brazil, Bhutan, India and the USA.
Some observations from Lab 1.0:
“[The Lab] has made me realize that true system transformation really starts with individuals, that the ability to transform the economy or transform our healthcare system ultimately depends on the ability and willingness of the individuals within a system to transform themselves; to look at things differently; to act in accordance with their values.” – Governor John Kitzhaber, State of Oregon, USA
“We are living in uncertain times, but one truth has emerged as an organizing principle for this era: interdependence. We are all in this together. New systems conditions require new leadership capacities — and this is a shift that revolves around an awakening of planetary consciousness. We believe that we cannot build a new economy without tapping into a deeper level of our humanity, of who we really are, starting with our personal journey driving who we want to be as a society.” – Marcelo Cardoso, Senior Vice President, Grupo Fleury, Brazil
Partners: Presencing Institute, Germany’s GIZ Global Leadership Academy, Gross National Happiness Centre, Bhutan.
Funding: GIZ Global Leadership Academy
The EU is widely reported to be a global environmental leader and is party to the major international environmental agreements. However, apart from multi-lateral environmental negotiations, the EU’s seeks to extend it environmental policy beyond its borders through a surprisingly large array of instruments, including: bilateral agreements, strategic and economic partnerships, transnational policy networks, internal regulation with external effects as well as development cooperation. In addition, innovative EU environmental policy can significantly shape policy elsewhere in the world through the effects of policy learning, competition and emulation.
Against this backdrop, EEEP brings together top international scholars, policy makers and civil society to explore how, where and to what effect the EU is embarking on new forms of external environmental governance, especially in Africa.
During the project the following research questions will be examined:
The output of the project will be a joint publication either in the form of a special issue or an edited book to be published in 2016.
More information surrounding the workshop that was held as part of the 2015 Governance Innovation Week can be found on the GovInn website.
Funding: Erasmus +
There is a clear need to go beyond GDP in Africa, with a view to identifying new indicators that take into account the interplay between human, social and ecological well-being. This project builds on international networks of GDP reformers to build capacity in Africa for a post-GDP transition. It includes workshops, high-level talks and public events with leading practitioners and academics. The applications of the results are mainly targeted at the Southern African region.
Funding: Department of Science and Technology, Republic of South Africa
Workshop: Beyond GDP in Africa, Pretoria, October 2014
Read and download the Workshop Final Statement
